The Core Worlds

Sonic the LARP

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published

When I do outdoorsy LARPs, they are generally with a group which uses laser tag for combat resolution. The games run the gauntlet from plot-heavy to "an excuse to have some laser tag combat". This is the story of one game I ran back in 2019.

A teddy bear peaks out from behind cover near a silver case. The image appears to be from CCTV as it is interlaced and has a date stamp, a time stamp and the text "CAMERA !" embedded in it along with a record icon in the top left

This was a combat-heavy and plot-light game about a group of mercenaries (the players) who were hired to retrieve a very important silver case that had been stolen from a lab.

CCTV shows another cuddly toy stealing and RFID access card from the pocket of a lab coat

…stolen by some very cute animals.

CCTV shows a plushy frog leaning over the case while holding a security access card

The lab belonged to Dr Robotnik and, having been freed by Sonic the Hedgehog, the cute animals were mounting their revenge by raiding the lab. The players were hired to get back the stolen goods!

A screen grab from Sonic the Hedgehog showing cute animals being released at the end of the Green Hill Zone

This game gave me an excuse to raid the charity shops in my local high street for cheap cuddly toys (which grown men and women would later hunt in the woods with laser tag guns). Giving money to charity in exchange for game props makes me happy.

The cheapest of the cuddly toys was a big teddy bear. The person at the till insisted on charging us less than ticket price because it was cursed.

It kept moving about the shop.

And looking at her.

The toys in the CCTV images, which were printed out and given to the players, had been cut open, RFID cards inserted, and then stitched up again.

On Saturday we set up for the laser-tag game by planting cuddly toys (and humans who could shoot back!) across the site, leaving a trail of "gold rings" (stretchy, yellow, plastic bracelets) and chaining the silver case up at the start point with a combination padlock.

The start point was a building with a barricade in front it it. The three CCTV images are taped to the barricade and the silver case can be seen behind it

The players had to find the cuddly toys, scan them to get the codes, and the combine them to find out the combination and unlock the case.

Then we let the players loose.

Finally, the team returned to the start point and used the combination they had found in the cuddly animals to unlock the padlock chaining the case down.

The players unlock the case)

Inside they found some delicious Jaffa Cakes — just in time for lunch!

One player won't let go of the case)

This was one of the sillier games we play, it was light on RP and plot.

We always welcome new players, get in touch via our Facebook group or website to learn more.

This was originally posted to Twitter, but I wanted to archive it on my own site, especially given the enshitification that X has manifested today.